Do I Terminate an Apartment Lease Legally?
If you want to vacate your apartment, but don’t want to get sued, you need to discover a way to terminate your flat lease legally. Your approach to this situation will depend on the circumstances motivating your desire to leave. In case the flat is in a condition that leaves it uninhabitable, you have good grounds to vacate. If your reason for vacating is because of a change on your circumstances, like a job move, you are not likely to have a legitimate legal reason to terminate the lease. In any event, there are measures to take to legally protect yourself.
Verify that you have a lease which has a specified duration longer than one month. If you are on a month-to-month lease, you are eligible to end the lease by providing your landlord 30 days written notice. You don’t need to wait till the conclusion of a month to provide the notice. In case you’ve got a written lease that doesn’t define a term, for example six months or annually, then it is legally regarded as a month-to-month lease. Provided that you vacate the apartment within the 30 day notice period, your judgment of the lease is legal.
Inform your landlord in writing of all repairs which need to be created to your flat in order to make it habitable, if the condition of the flat is the matter. If the landlord fails or fails to make the repairs, you’ve got the right to vacate the flat 30 days after giving your notice. You will possibly find that the landlord prefers to terminate the lease and have you vacate the flat instead of make the repairs.
Negotiate with your landlord to get an early termination of your lease. Any lease could be fired before its end date if both parties agree. Furthermore, if rents have grown in the region because you signed your lease, the landlord could be encouraged to terminate the lease in order to charge a higher rent.
Vacate the flat leaving it in a clean condition free of all debris and any of your personal belongings. Inform your landlord in writing that you vacated and return the keys to the flat. Once you vacate, the landlord cannot sue you for unlawful detainer because you no longer have ownership of the flat. Even if the landlord intends to sue you for lease on the balance of the lease term, the landlord is obligated to make a reasonable effort to lease the apartment to a new tenant in order to mitigate any lease loss. By vacating the flat and leaving it in a condition where it is ready to be rented, you are easing the landlord’s attempts to obtain a new tenant.